BY MATT STOUT
One tried not to look ahead to his next match, while the other made sure his opponent didn’t survive to see the next minute.
Either way, Concord’s Tyler Saltsman and Bow’s D.J. Meagher both dominated on Saturday, March 3, at the New England wrestling championships in New Haven, Conn.
After three years of state titles but none of the New England variety, Saltsman captured his first regional crown, overcoming an early 1-0 deficit in a 4-1 victory over Corey Paulish of Ridgefield, Conn., in the 130-pound finals.
With the victories, the U.S. Naval Academy-bound senior completed a 48-0 season and became just the second Tide wrestler to ever win a New England title, joining Todd Calley, who did it in 2005.
Meagher, on the other hand, achieved his goal of never going a full six minutes in any of his four matches, pinning two opponents and defeating two others by technical fall en route to the 145-pound title, his second New England championship in as many years.
The Falcons senior also earned co-Outstanding Wrestler honors, sharing them with 140-pound champion T.J. Hepburn of Ledyard, Conn. Meagher led all individual wrestlers with 29 total points, a year after finishing second to Salem’s Aaron Kalil in that category.
Concord placed two other wrestlers at the event. Harry Paul won four one-point matches, including a 1-0 decision in his final bout to capture fifth at 160 pounds, and Alex Buessing matched his performance from last season with a sixth-place finish at 135 pounds.
“It’s just fun wrestling for New Hampshire because I’ve kind of grown up with this senior class through youth wrestling, with Saltsman and (Timberlane’s Derek) Sickel and (Salem’s Aaron) Kalil and all those guys,” said Meagher, highlighting two other Granite State seniors who took home titles.
“It was kind of cool to see all those guys in the finals with me in the end and New Hampshire, when you think about it, we did really well,” he continued. “We have like 33 high schools compared to those other states, and we had five finalists and five champs (including Salem’s 125-pound junior Trevor Dearden).”
Saltsman’s accomplishment far transcended “cool” after he suffered years of frustration at the regional level. Guilty by his own admission of looking ahead in past years, most notably last season when he lost two decisions by one point while wrestling up a weight class, the only four-time state champ in Concord history remained focused throughout the two-day tournament.
He posted wins of 7-1, 6-5 and 9-2 to earn a place in the finals with the Connecticut all-state champ, where an escape put Saltsman down 1-0 in the first before he executed a takedown to close the second and another with 20 seconds left in the third to seal the win.
“It all paid off, you know?” said Saltsman, who went through the fourth-, third- and second-place finishers for his title. “All that hard work, and it felt great to finally do what I wanted to do. It was my goal since I was a freshman.”
Meagher disposed of both the eventual third-place and sixth-place finishers in his bracket, but did so with ease, the last drubbing coming in the finals when he battered Connecticut state champ Eric Campbell in an 18-2 decision.
Meagher later joked with Hepburn, the reigning national champ among juniors at his weight, that they wrestle in a winner-take-all match for the Outstanding Wrestler award.
“He was the most dominant wrestler in the tournament,” Bow coach Jim Kaufman said of Meagher. “He’s had as good a two-year run (at the New England tournament) as I think you can have.”
Enjoying perhaps the most exciting and exhausting tournament, however, was Paul, whose only losses came to the eventual champion and third-place finisher, while not one of his wins came easily. His four victories ended in 2-1, 3-2, 4-3 and 1-0 scores, with the 4-3 decision coming after he executed a reversal with three seconds left in triple overtime.
“I came out ready for a war each match,” he said with a laugh. “And I got it.”